This event was a good time. I haven’t driven anything but a Silverado for the past 6 months, so it was cool to be on a track again and not working on the car. The day started out with two 1-hour practice sessions where I got on the “mushroom” course for the first time. The track was pretty fast and super smooth, not a single bump anywhere. It was 4th gear the whole way for me, almost topping out on 4th gear towards the end of the course.

I got used to the car in the practice sessions. I had an easy setup on it to keep it loose/slow. It felt pretty natural, just had to be more careful going into turns now because I was carrying more speed, and the car seemed to have less side grip than I remembered. I ran 255 Federals on it, same as last year, because everyone was telling me the track had a lot of grip. But that wasn’t enough tire. I could only go full throttle for a few seconds down the hill at the end of the course (where most of the video above was shot).

We were supposed to have another practice, I think, but went straight into qualifying for the comp because the event was behind schedule. I lowered the air pressure a lot in the rear and gave the toe arms about half a turn to get some more grip. I didn’t want to overdo it since there was no more practice. I did two decent laps in qualifying and came in 6th place. My entry wasn’t as early or awesome as some others, and I’m sure it was obvious that I couldn’t use too much throttle throughout most of the course, so this is probably what I lost points on.

In top 16, I went against Claude Poirier, who drives an LS3 350Z mostly in DMCC. I had a good lead run and followed pretty close on the second run with him flying off course at the end, so I got the win. In top 8, I went against Evan Tuerck in his new S13, but I think his car was running out of gas because it would die every time he threw it sideways, so I got the win because he couldn’t keep it drifting.

Top 4 was against Zach Caitlin in the 3rd-gen Camaro. We got a OMT I think because I got somewhat phazed in the long right sweeper before the downhill. He looked like he was going to spin, so I went to straighten and avoid, but he kept it going. I didn’t quite straighten but it probably looked bad losing angle and then kicking it sideways again. He was also a lot slower down the hill towards the last turn, so I was having to use massive e-brake, which probably also looked terrible. Anyway, in the OMT, my runs were cleaner, and I got the win. Funniest part of the event was Zach’s car catching on fire every run and him putting it out every time and going for more runs.

Final round was against Mats Baribeau in the JZX really big car (please don’t crush me). I followed him decently well keeping about a car-length distance and closing in towards the end. I would have liked to be closer, but I gave him too much room on the initiation and couldn’t close up enough. On my lead run, he hit the dirt and straightened on the last turn, so I got the win.

Overall, I need to make some adjustments for more grip so I can use more throttle and put on 275s, but I was pretty happy with how the car drove with all the suspension changes and a lot more power. Next event will be XDC in Orlando.

Ray Horton from garagespec.net stopped by the shop last week and did a quick interview with me for the next issue of his online magazine. A preview of the interview is up on the GarageSpec blog. Check out the site and the full interview in the upcoming issue.